Starting in 1903, when the Boston Americans beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, MLB teams have played 107 installments of the World Series. Some have been more memorable than others. SN ranks the 10 best Fall Classics. Text by Ryan Fagan. (AP Photos)

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10. 1924: Senators over Giants

Four games were decided by one run, including Game 7, which was knotted at 3-3 heading into the bottom of the 12th, thanks to four scoreless relief innings from Walter Johnson. Finally, Johnson got his championship—and the Game 7 win—when Earl McNeely came through with a series-winning double in the 12th inning. (Library of Congress Photo)

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9 . 1986 : Mets over Red Sox

The Mets, a team that had won 108 games during the regular season, somehow lost the first two contests at home. The Mets did win Games 3 and 4, convincingly, at Fenway Park. Boston won Game 5 and had the lead in Game 6 before the inning that featured Bill Buckner’s gaffe. Then, the Red Sox took a quick 3-0 lead in Game 7 but couldn’t hold on for the championship. (Stan Grossfeld/Boston Globe)

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8 . 1946 : Cardinals over Red Sox

St. Louis won the title with one of the more daring plays in World Series history. In the bottom of the eighth in Game 7, Enos Slaughter made a mad dash home from first to score and give the Cardinals the lead despite the fact cutoff man Johnny Pesky had the ball as he rounded third. Pesky, shocked that Slaughter was running, hesitated, and that was enough for Slaughter to slide home safely with what proved to be the series-clinching run. (Sporting News Archives)

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7. 1912 : Red Sox over Giants

The Red Sox and Giants needed an eighth game because Game 2 ended in a 6-6 tie after 11 innings when the action had to be halted because of darkness. A 10th-inning error by Fred Snodgrass—he dropped what was, by all accounts, a very catchable fly ball—led to two runs for the Red Sox in a 3-2 victory. With largely the same cast of players, the Red Sox also won the World Series in 1915, 1916 and 1918. (Getty Images)

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6. 1968 : Tigers over Cardinals

Six of the seven games were dominated by starting pitchers. In Game 7, Mickey Lolich and Bob Gibson—who had combined for a 4-0 record to that point in the series—faced off. Both lasted nine innings, to no one’s surprise, and the three runs Detroit pushed across in the seventh proved more than enough for Lolich and his Tigers to claim the World Series title. (AP Photo)

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5 . 1956 : Yankees over Dodgers

The game that lives forever is Game 5, when Yankees pitcher Don Larsen faced the minimum 27 batters in the first—and still only—perfect game in World Series history. When the Dodgers scored a total of 19 runs in claiming a 2-0 series lead, it didn’t look like the Yankees had much of a chance, and it certainly didn’t look like they would be able to win by shutting down a powerful Brooklyn lineup that featured future Hall of Famers Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella, among others. But that’s exactly what happened—the Dodgers scored three runs in the final four games and the Yankees won the title. (Sporting News Archives)

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4. 2011: Cardinals over Rangers

Twice in Game 6, the Cardinals were down to their last strike, putting the Rangers one strike from winning the first World Series title in franchise history. Both times, though, St. Louis hitters came through in a game that might have been the most drama-filled in baseball history. David Freese tripled off closer Neftali Feliz to tie the game in the ninth. After Josh Hamilton’s homer in the 10th gave Texas a two-run lead, Lance Berkman delivered another two-out, two-strike hit to knot the game. Freese’s solo home run to lead off the 11th sent the series to a seventh game, which the Cardinals won. (Charlie Riedel/AP)

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3. 1975: Reds over Red Sox

The greatness of this World Series is about so much more than its signature moment, even though that moment—Carlton Fisk’s 12th-inning home run in Game 6—was undoubtedly an all-time great. The Red Sox pulled off one-run victories in Games 4 and 6 to send the series to Game 7. Boston, which famously hadn’t won a championship since 1918, jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning of Game 7, but the Reds came back to win the title. (AP Photo)

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2. 1991: Twins over Braves

Minnesota starter Jack Morris turned in arguably the second-most impressive pitching performance in World Series history—after Don Larsen’s perfecto—in Game 7. Morris shut out the Braves for 10 innings, and the Twins clinched the title on Gene Larkin’s bases-loaded single over a drawn-in outfield with one out in the 10th. (Jim Mone/AP)

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1. 2001 : Diamondbacks over Yankees

This World Series, draped against the backdrop of a New York City that had been rocked by the September 11 terrorist attacks less than two months earlier, featured a decade’s worth of unforgettable moments and awe-inspiring performances, including the thrilling Game 7 finish. Trailing 2-1 in the ninth inning with untouchable Yankees closer Mariano Rivera on the mound, the Diamondbacks cobbled together a rally and tied the game. Then, with the bases loaded and one out, Luis Gonzalez muscled a little looper over the infield and Jay Bell raced home with the winning run in the greatest World Series of all time. (Albert Dickson/Sporting News)